aahawkin
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

How do YOU breakout of the crowd?

 

Group and engage your attendees into smaller meetings with Webex breakout sessions. With enough room to be heard above the crowd, you can drive active participation in all your virtual meets.

 

If you've used breakout sessions, we want to know!

 

In fewer than 100 words, respond with your tips and/or tricks for effectively using breakout sessions for facilitating training, teaching class, or meeting with friends and family.

 

Hosts, do you save time preassigning participants to rooms via spreadsheet upload? Teachers, do you name the rooms after subjects or something more fun? You will be entered into a giveaway for a FREE Cisco 730 headset, by responding to this post!

 

This post will stay active for the entire month of April. We will randomly select a winner and reach out to them directly in the first week of May.

 

UPDATE: We asked educators how they use breakout rooms for effective and engaging remote learning. Read "7 breakout sessions tips from K-12 and higher ed educators" to learn more. 

 

More about Breakout sessions

As a host, you can preassign members to sessions, add or remove on the fly, or allow guests to float. You can even mute that one guy pouring coffee... We hope it’s coffee. As a guest, hold deep discussions or explore sessions to quickly find information. At the end of the session, you can even use artificial intelligence to show the clapping icon. Try breakout rooms today!

 

 

If you are not familiar with all the features, check out these links to learn more.

 

Webex Meetings | Breakout Sessions 

Breakout Sessions | Features 

Breakout Sessions | Best Practices 
Blog | Educator's Tips on Getting Remote Learning Right

 

To avoid emails flooding your inbox, be sure to uncheck the box Email me when someone replies when you respond.

Screen Shot 2021-04-06 at 9.14.44 AM.png

 

Respond to this post and share how you breakout! Your response will enter you into a giveaway for a FREE Cisco 730 Headset!

Comments
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hi @aahawkin 

Thanks for posting that here in the Webex Community!

I know the first time I ever used breakout sessions was in my employee orientation, where we split into groups of six to network and working on our personal elevator pitches. After 5 minutes I was placed into a new breakout session with all new people. Each time I was placed in a new one, I was able to improve on my delivery and approach. I LOVE that breakout sessions give you the opportunity to make something like orientation with 60 other people still a conversation that everyone can participate in.

Level 4
Level 4

Nice feature, Will make sure to use it and explain it to all people in my company so they can start using it, especially in the meetings where all employees present. 

If I ever know this feature to be available, I'd use it in a "divide & conquer" manner! During some never ending meetings, where all needed staff is invited, there's always a huge part of them waiting their moment to talk with their own peer. This is like BOF teams!!! Keep on changing, Cisco!

Teacher’s can get very creative with their breakout rooms in Education.  One school used breakouts to facilitate one-to-one instruction during group tutoring sessions in addition to teachers being able to have small group instruction during class.  Group projects are also possible as students are able to work in together during class time and teacher’s visit the rooms on request or randomly to check in on progress.

 

We love the option to set up breakouts ahead of time and the option for attendees to select their breakout sessions has been priceless for staff training meetings.

Level 1
Level 1

Hello! The nonprofit agency that I work for is contracted through the State's Department of Aging. Through this partnership, we collaboratively produce webinars via Webex for the state's aging network staff and volunteers. Each webinar serves as both a live/virtual training session and an on-demand post-webinar training resource. Offering both methods allows those who could not attend the live/virtual session an opportunity to view the recorded/video version of the virtual session. Our Webex hosts use breakout rooms quite often and have found them very useful. While we initially noticed some issues and challenges when using breakout rooms, we have noticed the strides that Cisco Webex has taken over the past year or more to improve the functionality and features offered with their Breakout Rooms feature for the Webex 'Meetings' and 'Events' platforms. Thank you!

Adding breakout sessions really adds value to Webex Meetings. One way we take advantage of breakout sessions at my health care facility is to break large meetings into smaller groups for brainstorming sessions. We then reconvene in the main meeting where each breakout reports out to the larger group to share our thoughts and findings. It's a way to have more focused conversion without needing to schedule more meetings! The new ability to assign breakout sessions in advance with CSV import can really help speed the process up. You can then also save the CSV's for future meetings too!

Level 1
Level 1

I really like the fact co-hosts have the ability to take control of breakout sessions, this really takes the pressure off the host who can focus on engaging with the call. Also pre-assigning breakouts is a great way to ensure you are ready even before the call has started!

 

It would be awesome to see the pre-assign feature within the Outlook productivity tools in the future. Also if you pre-assign breakouts, but add someone new to the invite after these are created, you have to go back and re-create the sessions. So if that can be updated that would be awesome!

Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

My customers love breakout sessions, not just for education. I have seen them used for round table interviews with multiple candidates and as smaller sessions during town halls for time with executives of different departments.

 

A few suggestions for best practices:

If your user base uses Cisco Devices such as DX80s, make sure to let them know to join from their computer rather than their device as breakout sessions aren't supported on devices just yet.

Always have a cohost to help out with managing the meeting. 

Use the broadcast feature to communicate with your other cohost(s) while in sessions.

 

I'm sure there are others out there with best practices they have discovered! I would love to hear them!

Level 1
Level 1

Hi!

Our customers are very happy using break-out-session in different settings. I recently provided my Russian teacher with information on free accounts and now my Russian class takes place via Webex. With break-out-sessions, we are able to practice this foreign language interactively. This way, we gained 17 Webex-fanatics, especially enhanced because of break-out-sessions.

So thank you so much!

Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

The breakout room feature was great during Cisco Live labs, helping people 1-to-1 when they had problems and not bothering everyone else who was working through the lab.

Level 1
Level 1

Thank for sharing.

Nice feature seems to be helpful for having more interaction with the audience.

Spotlight
Spotlight

We use the breakout sessions in an event called "Wednesday MixChat".
This is a way for our employees, who work at different locations or currently in home offices, to get to know each other.

 

Every Wednesday there is a session in the morning and in the late afternoon where people are randomly sent to a breakout session and can talk for 10 minutes.

 

Here it would be nice if Webex would offer the possibility that when everyone is back in the main session, they could be distributed again in breakout sessions, but in a different constellation than before.

For example.
In the first breakout session user A talked to user B and user C talked to user D.
In the second breakout session, user A would talk to user D and user B would talk to user C.

 

I work in education, as the Collaboration person for our org, not having breakout rooms in Webex meetings right off was challenging to be able to deliver a superior cirriculum.  I engaged with one of my faculty and here is what she had to say about breakout rooms.   

 

The move to online teaching was a difficult one.  As the teacher, I realized that I needed to stop remembering how I did things before and start looking at what WebEx would allow me to do now.  Breakout rooms develop small group student relationships as individuals explore ideas they may be hesitant to discuss in a large class setting.  Alternating students can take a leadership role, and the rooms allow the teacher to visit, or remain outside the room facilitating the conversation.  Breakout rooms, in the touch of a button, have restored creativity and engagement in the online classroom.  

Hi all,

 

I actually use breakout during training sessions where i use the pre-assign possibilities and start the breakout to be able to have groups discussions divided per topics.

 

Level 7
Level 7

We don't currently have a need for breakout sessions but I will definitely be pushing this for the training department to utilize with their classes. 

Level 1
Level 1

Hello Everyone,

 

Due to the pandemic, we used the breakout rooms in order to administer team Readiness Assurance Test (tRAT). This allowed medical students to take their weekly tRAT exams virtually. In order to manage breakout rooms we designated roles to the host and cohosts. The host took care of assigning the breakout rooms and the cohosts were assigned to trouble-shoot technical issues within the breakout rooms. Each breakout room had an assigned student that would share the tRAT exam content in order for the group to participate in negotiating their answers choices and deepen their understanding of each exam item. Breakout rooms were very useful when the medical class size is over 100 students. 

 

Regards,

Erica 

Paul L. Foster School of Medicine

TTUHSC EL Paso TX

Breakouts sessions help me a lot. I can teach better and make my class more fun to everybody join!

I have used this during an information meeting, where we could ask questions to the head of certain departments during the breakout session. I still miss the option that a group can indicate that a certain group is already ready to leave de breakout 

Level 1
Level 1

Just to let you know, the positive impact from the pandemic is the development speed of WebEx. 

 

We use the breakout sessions a lot for trouble shooting sessions within data center operations (war room) where a lot of parties are involved.

Especially when we have also external Companies involved where their mother tongue is different to the local one. It is a very easy way to give them a "area" to feel more comfortable and prepare the results for the bigger "round".

But this is just one example out of many.

 

Thank you Cisco for making workdays easier during the pandemic with WebEx

 

 

 

Hello all,

I would like to share with the experience about the breakout session for our customers. The feature is really a game changer and help our customers win orders in modern and future way. It's super convenience, especially during the covid-19. We're waiting for this feature for a long time!

In Taiwan, we currently have many expos for the business partners. In the past, we need to invite the customers from oversea and join the expos to get the business. As you can imagine that many customers and many factory owners need to have a quick conversation to ensure the requirement. In the past, we could meet the needs face to face. However, it's impossible to do it after the pandemic!

Fortunately, with breakout session feature in Webex, we're able to do it in the effective and efficient way but also with the great security. We are able to divide attendees as many small groups to have quick discussions. The coolest thing is we only need to host one meeting at once and all tasks are complete! Now customers enjoy the way they work and close the deal in the way we cannot think about before.

At the moment, the world needs a fantastic meeting app to bring people together again. With the satisfaction with our customers, the breakout session feature of Cisco Webex is very applicable and practical for the needs of people. Good job and thank you, Cisco!

Level 1
Level 1

Break-out sessions are a great idea. For complex topics I adopt the '6 hats' concept: White for facts; Yellow for positive aspects; Green for approaches; Blue for big picture; Black for negatives, and Red - feelings and emotions. Sub-groups break off to discuss only the 'hat' that they have been assigned. After discussion, the sub groups are brought together to summarise their positions, by 'hat'. With the sub groups, I then collectively assesses the information and ask the combined sub-groups to vote on the way forward, after each member has been given the opportunity of considering opposing or supporting views.

Level 1
Level 1

Picture collecting personal goals of a 30 member team in 30 minutes. Having 6, 5 member breakout sessions to work on the same agenda, changes the participation time of each participant from 1 minute and 29 minutes of waiting, to about 10 minutes per person with real opportunities for engagement and interactions.

 

Here's a few tips from my work.

  • Have instructions ready for teach breakout session and empower someone to run the breakout sessions.
  • Consider including an icebreaker for the breakout session. 
  • As participants become used to this approach they are more likely to be more involved.

Hi All,

 

We have recurring discussions every morning due to COVID situation. Breakout Sessions can help us to make small, concentrated team sessions. New World, new great features.

 

BR,

Krisztian

Level 1
Level 1

Let me Tell you about the new tool called "Breakout Session".

 

Up until now we had to open several different sessions so employers could continue thier productivity during the covid-19 pandemic.

 

As an IT, it was too **bleep**-hard to orchestrate on all of the webex sessions.

But now! with the new feature I can seperate and organize the company's webex sessions.

 

Thanks Cisco, you did a hell of a job there!!!

Level 1
Level 1

We have been using Webex breakout sessions in Webex Meetings and Trainings. Usually, we pre-assign the breakout sessions for Webex Trainings, where its a more structured session.  However, with Webex Meetings being more ad-hoc, wherein we breakout for specific tasks such as working on a client pitch, or project before we get back to the main session. 

 

A Nice to have for Webex Meetings would be the attention indicator available in Webex Trainings and Events.

Level 1
Level 1

I love ODL, but I think students miss out on the social aspect of live classrooms during ODL. You know, when they're just hanging out before the teacher arrives or after class ends. So I'm trying what I call "The Lounge" where I will have a session open before class begins and students can come in to talk to each other and I won't interrupt them (in fact I'm not even listening. I'm just there because without a host the audio won't work). I prepare some breakout rooms that they can choose to enter in case they want to have a conversation in smaller groups. The whole thing is voluntary.

 

By and large, not many students actually use it, but sometimes there will be random students in random breakout rooms and I hope they are building memories together.

This is an ideal feature for the Top Management to percolate the Organizations Vision to its last member with utmost clarity

 

The Top Management can express their Vision to the Department Heads, who can in turn breakup and address their own departments to explain, what the Organizations Vision mean for their specific department .

 

Once done, all can return to the main "Meeting Hall"

 

Level 1
Level 1

Nice feature and it works perfect. Have used it in our company when running social quiz with several groups. Started with meeting all together and then "going into teamrooms"

 

Level 1
Level 1

NEVER BEFORE! IN THE ANNALS OF BANKING HISTORY!!

INDIAN BANK IS THE FIRST TO HAVE TRAINED A MASSIVE  NUMBER  OF OFFICERS THROUGH VIRTUAL MODE FROM VARIOUS CENTRES ACROSS INDIA.  YES!! EVEN THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC HAS NOT STALLED ITS SPIRITS & ENTHUSIASM.

WebEx breakout rooms is a video conferencing features that allows the our Training Center to separate larger video meetings and webinars into several smaller groups of a set number of participants. These breakout sessions can last for as long as the Faculties/coordinator would like and can have multiple breakout sessions within a single meeting. Breakout Session is not intuitive in Microsoft Team as compare to Cisco WebEx.

 

During the Pandemic (Covid-19) , Bank's training system has use breakout session features effectively and efficiently to split participants in smaller groups from the main WebEx meeting to collaborate and share ideas over audio/video (like various case study and assignment and multiple parallel session based on participant domain ). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Level 1
Level 1

Hello! breakout Sessions is a fantastic feature. I first used it without ever hearing about it before, during a lab session / webinar. Something was not working in my Lab, and a couple of the panelists joined me on a breakout session and solved the issue, in an Instant! Great work Cisco!

Level 5
Level 5

Hi all,

 

I use the breakout during the training sessions to make team developments and look for the best solution to the issue.

Level 1
Level 1

Breakout sessions are very useful for teachers who need some one-on-one time with a student, however it would be extra helpful, if we could still watch the shared screen/files of the general meeting or if we could also use the whiteboard, while in breakout session.

Thank you!

Level 1
Level 1

We use breakout rooms as a law firm for many different reasons.  Primarily the ability to drive private conversations to a breakout room during a hearing or deposition is very valuable.

Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

 Thank you all for the genuine responses and for sharing how you are using breakout sessions today! The original post has been updated with a downloadable Quick start guide. Make sure to check it out and use it as you like and share within your organizations.

Breakout sessions have been used a few times for social settings, but not yet for collaboration as we are a smaller community. I do have plans to work our national community into an account, at which time, breakout sessions will be more in play. The spreadsheet upload is really tantalizing. 

Level 1
Level 1

I love using the breakout sessions because it allows group work in smaller, more personal settings. One of the features of WebEx that I like is that it sends a reminder email to users through which they can click in to join the meeting. One tip: When I first tried to use breakout sessions, the feature didn't seem to work. What I found out is that if the users click on the link in the email, they can't join a breakout session.  However, if they log in through Canvas, the breakout rooms function perfectly.

Level 1
Level 1
As a Assistant Professor in an Engineering College, I had to be very precise with the allocation of students for examination. I have been using this breakout feature since last semester and in this semester also. It is an excellent feature to be utilised in specially laboratory sessions where I can demonstrate the experiments to students in group and also while taking their viva voce examination. I could have two three examiner panel also as co host for that. Expel feature is helpful in taking out student for some time and assigning them individual task. I also liked the random assigning of student in breakout groups, so that the students with random experiments can be put together for further discussion. Overall this is unique and very helpful feature for faculty.
Level 8
Level 8

Not used breakout session but would like to try it.

Level 1
Level 1

Our company uses breakout sessions to put interviewees in a different room while the interviewing committee prepares for the interview.  This allows for us to start the meeting early for the interviewee, make general introductions, while we make sure that all the interviewing committee is ready for the interview.  Many times we have seen members of the interviewing committee join late, and without this feature, it would be very difficult to to manage this situation.

Hello.

Im personally discovered breakout session on this year, when we make a Sales Training and we have to divide the main group by client focus but with the possibility to monitor and control the process and the methodology application for each group. It was an amazing experience, useful and easy to implement. I don’t know why I’ve never used this before, but I’m sure that I will use and apply in our next training and sessions.

A great tool.

Breakout Sessions.jpgBreakout Sessions list.jpg

Most recently, I've hosted Webex meetings for our University's Board of Trustees meetings. I was able to break our board out of the main room so they could discuss privately in their executive session. I've also assisted many a faculty in setting up breakouts for their online and hybrid classes. Webex has been a great resource for our university. 

Level 1
Level 1

This is new to me and I can see many possibilities for application within our medical offices. 

Level 1
Level 1

Our best use of breakout sessions so far has been using them to design live virtual escape rooms for students.  We give them a scenario with clues and then a problem to solve.  When they give us the correct answer through a private message, we assign them to a breakout session with the next scenario and challenge.  As they complete the challenge in each breakout session they move through escape rooms.  This lets them use their problem solving skills and makes learning more interactive and ups their interest and engagement.

Level 1
Level 1

Greetings - 

I use breakout sessions with my 8th grade Science class. However, we have never had formal trainings on the process, and I have never explored beyond the instant functionality in the room. Just reading the initial post I see that we can upload spreadsheets to pre-define rooms and their names. Very cool function that I will explore.

 

JC

Our University's Career Services held an Employer Networking Event via WebEx. There were 9 employers represented and 50 students attending. I established 9 breakout rooms and assigned 1 employer representative to each breakout room then assigned the students evenly among the rooms. I set the session for 15 mins automatically ending after a 1 min countdown and started the breakout session. After the first session ended and everyone returned to the main room I only needed to reassign the employer representatives, rotating them each into the next breakout room, and start the next session. Now every employer representative had a fresh group of students. I continued this for a total of 9 sessions resulting in every student having met with every employer representative. The event went smoothly and was well received.

Level 1
Level 1

Ok, I deeply wish I had access to this a year ago. I train employees at a health system and we were going through Upgrade Training with Front Desk Staff, Clinical Staff, and Providers. Without Breakout Sessions, we lead multiple different WebEx meetings over different days for different groups based on job roles. I would definitely have utilized the Breakout Sessions by having everyone go to a General Session where we would have shared the information that would have impacted everyone and then divided all participants out based on job role into their own Breakout Sessions. The other trainers I work with would each have been assigned to lead a Breakout Session where they could then share the specific workflows and information to the correct attendees. This would have saved hours of meetings over multiple days. There was also confusion where people joined the wrong meeting (I had a Provider join the Front Desk meeting and was not happy that he wasted his time). We are getting ready to roll out some new changes and I cannot wait to use Breakout Sessions!

Level 1
Level 1

Breakout sessions are helpful for more confidential/ individual ( as opposed to general ) discussions. 

Level 1
Level 1

I use breakout sessions with my students. It is very helpful tool. Breakout rooms develop small group student relationships as individuals explore ideas they may be hesitant to discuss in a large class setting.  Alternating students can take a leadership role, and the rooms allow the teacher to visit, or remain outside the room facilitating the conversation.  Breakout rooms, have restored creativity and engagement in the online classroom.  

Level 1
Level 1

I am a language teacher teaching Public Speaking to a group of 62 tertiary Engineering students. Having a breakout beauty is such a blessing! I can assign them into smaller groups and get them speaking dynamically, brainstorming ideas productively. As I roam around from one session to the next, I imagine myself walking physically in a Face-to-face setting, enjoying their sharing with full closeness. Thanks to Webex! Virtual yet possible!! The students love the fact that the instructor appears in a while and disappears the next instant. And they can notify me and call for help when they need me. As I observe some passive attendees, I move the chatterbox to this group as to push the quiet ones. It works magic! 

I had a chance to test and see different options on Webex, and webex training even we mostly use Blackboard collaborator. I found that Cisco Webex has more options for me as a student we get to do labs in a group in the breakout room than our Professor can join us anytime he wants. It has a bright feature that lets us do a private project without disturbing the classroom or others. 

Level 1
Level 1

I use breakout rooms the same way I would use a table in face to face training ... I like to split groups up in different ways and use the environment to allow different interactions.

One tip for people new to breakout rooms ... I have found sometimes participants cannot join the room - especially if they drop out after allocating breakout sessions. My super secret tip is to temporarily make them an alternate host and guide them into the right room - explaining the steps to join. Once the activity has finished, change their role back to participant. 

Level 1
Level 1

Outstanding Feature!!

I am Excited to see the Breakout Session in Webex.

We were using the Breakout Rooms feature in Microsoft teams so far but this one along with the power of Webex is just Outstanding!

 

Thanks.

Akhter.

Spotlight
Spotlight

As site admin I don't tend to use Breakout Sessions unless I'm demonstrating them to the end user so I posed the question to the end users.

 

I use Breakout Sessions at every synchronous class. Firstly, I set questions based on the previous week's learning, and the students do that straight away in groups of about 3 - 5. This gets them used to "Chatting" to each other, so I get quite good interaction throughout the rest of the class. Then I use 2 breakout rooms per session for students to group solve problems on the new week's topic. Actually, it would be better if students could still see my powerpoint while they are in their breakout groups, but I haven't been able to do this with Webex, so what the students have been doing is taking snapshots of the questions/problems. The breakout groups have better discussions if the answers are subjective, rather than maths type objective answers. A few students tend to dominate discussions, so I do manual assignment to mix them up each time. I let the students choose how long they want for each problem and I keep emphasising to them that they are developing graduate skills, not just the subject. Inevitably, some students don't contribute at all, but direct questioning when they come back to the main room helps. I don't go into the break out rooms, unless invited, as I want the students to feel they can discuss stuff with each other privately (it's the only peer contact some of them get nowadays).

Spotlight
Spotlight

As site admin I don't tend to use Breakout Sessions unless I'm demonstrating them to the end user so I posed the question to the end users.

 

I've been trying out Breakout sessions with a pilot Study Group we are running (Science Highers). The idea is that students who would like a study buddy come to the weekly group where they'll hopefully meet peers who are willing to work collaboratively. Students then move to a pre-assigned Breakout session listed by subject area. Students can move freely between sessions/groups and they plan/discuss the details and timings in the general meeting before moving to the session.

I'm finding it helpful for students who also wish to socialise a bit as many of them haven't met in person yet due to lockdown. Building relationships and confidence will hopefully build the Study Group.

I love using the breakout sessions. I am able to put students into groups with a given focus. I am able to designate the time spent in that group before we all come back together. I enjoy being able to pop into the rooms to listen to the conversation and be able to redirect it if needed. 

I teach multiple content areas and I have used breakout sessions in each area. It is also a wonderful tool when a student wants to conference with you to ask questions and see examples without feeling embarrassed in front of their classmates. 

I always make sure to name my breakout sessions with what the team is working on. It helps them to remember and it helps me to know what I should be hearing them collaborate on. 

We mostly use it for meetings and especially training sessions where we have 20 or more in attendance.  It helps with networking and gets our students in a "room" together to freely discuss the subject.  Then 1 spokesperson from each group is chosen to represent the group.  It is a great time saver and learning tool.

Level 1
Level 1

I was not aware of breakout sessions but now that I have read up on it, I will be using it in future meetings. Thanks for the info!

Spotlight
Spotlight

At our university, instructors have utilized breakouts for many classroom applications, with many similar uses described earlier in this string. I wanted to share a few really creative uses that our users have utilized breakouts for engagement may have applications in other industries:

  1.  Alumni Awards Virtual Congratulations: Our Alumni team created a recorded video that highlighted the award recipients for this year, which recipients and their friends/families watched. This served as the more formal ceremonial aspect of what would have traditionally been an in-person event.  After this circulated, they held a Webex Meeting at which each award recipient was put in their own breakout. By using the 'registration' feature for the meeting, they preassigned some attendees to the appropriate awardee's breakouts. During this synchronous portion, award recipients were able to be congratulated personally but not chaotically by attendees. If an attendee wanted to congratulate multiple awardees, the Alumni team utilized the 'join any breakout' feature to allow them to move from room to room to share best wishes. By mixing the asynchronous recording as the formal ceremony with the informal breakout Meeting, they were able to have both formal and informal aspects for these virtual awards. 
  2. College of Business and Economics job fairs: Each company was given a breakout room and students were able to move from one company's breakout to another to meet employers, connect, gain information, etc. This meant one meeting link for the job fair, simplifying the experience for both students and employers. 
Level 1
Level 1

Breakout rooms are essential in my web seminar where all the participants are splitted into groups interacting and sharing their ideas and then present them to all back in the main session. Very useful when the participants are too many. 

Nice Feature!!!

 

Seems very usefully for supervisors and team leaders in education & industry. 

Level 1
Level 1

We've used breakout sessions in our monthly HR teams meetings. With a group of about 40 associates it's nice to breakout into smaller groups to complete engagement activities and regroup with the larger team once complete.

Level 1
Level 1

My tip is make sue you "pop" in on the break out teams to make sure they are still on point! or to provide additional coaching/direction within the group if needed.

Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Have used Breakout sessions feature and it has become essential part of my training sessions in virtual world where groups activities can be performed with so much ease. 

It really brings down the challenges of virtual learnings and enhances grouped interaction, such an amazing experience. 

Hello @aahawkin,

Here at Catalina, we use breakout sessions for our corporate trainings and internal IT scrum teams to split up in teams to develop and go over tasks and issues. The trainers love it to be able to split up many users in groups to go over specific trainings and workshops. Great feature and love it! Just need to help with more detailed reporting on the MC side.  Thanks!

Level 1
Level 1

 

Recommended tip to effectively use breakout sessions for facilitating anything from training to teaching, or meeting is to preassign participants in advance!

 

See https://help.webex.com/en-us/cmaeb4/Webex-Meetings-Preassign-Participants-to-Breakout-Sessions

Level 1
Level 1

Hi @aahawkin,

In Higher Education, we use break out rooms for smaller discussion groups or for focused work tasks. Pre assigned or randomly assigned break out rooms add a variety of different perspectives, student engagement, help strengthen learning objectives and are a great way to develop meaningful relationships with fellow peers.

 

We find breakout sessions in Webex Meetings are very effective for remote participants and with Webex Room Systems provide a great way to blend in room and remote participants. We also use the feature rich functionality of Webex persistent Teams and Spaces for continuous workflow, classroom or small group project work.

 

The breakout sessions in Webex Meetings and the feature rich functionality of Webex persistent Teams and Spaces provide loads of flexibility and variety for learning objectives, engagement and workflows.

Level 1
Level 1

Breakout sessions are a great way to split up a big class in to small group-work exercises. Spreadsheet upload is a bit trickier than we'd like for average users although most are able to figure it out. A simple drag-and-drop interface would be great to see. Some teachers of younger classes like to name their breakout groups after colours or shapes which makes it very easy for young students to remember where they are supposed to be!

This would would have been useful 6 months ago during our annual meeting, but it's good to know that key functionality are now being implemented.  I'm excited to see the rollout of future functions as the product continues to go.

Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for sharing your experiences and providing genuine feedback around breakout sessions. All your responses give us a better perspective on how the feature is being taken advantage of and used creatively.

Now to mention this month's feature of the month random giveaway winner.... Our winner the is @Elane Kalavrias ! Congratulations, Elane! We will reach out to you directly.

All, stay tuned in for next month's Feature of the Month post! Thank you for your commitment to each other and for making the Webex Community a welcoming home for conversation.